Vote Turner for commission - and more letters to the editors

April 29th, 2014 in Opinion Letters

Vote Turner for commission

I am a lifelong resident of District 7 and I am voting for Sabrena Turner as my next county commissioner, and I hope you will, too.

I served under Sabrena's leadership two terms when she chaired HubFest at Heritage Park. It did not take me long to realize what a person of substance she is. She led by example. She earned the respect of every person under her care. She had answers to our questions. She returned our phone calls. She had regular meetings and, most importantly, she sent every person on the team individual personal, handwritten thank-you cards. Every one of us became and remain her close friend.

Sabrena takes interest in, and prepares herself for, every area of her life which involves the people of District 7, Hamilton County, the city of Chattanooga, and much more. Owning Sabrena Realty; being elected Realtor of the Year 2012 by her peers; serving on several important Chattanooga Association of Realtors boards and committees has given her such an advantage to know the needs our district is facing. I thank her for all the trips to Nashville and Washington she made on our behalf. I call this substance!

Please come to one of Sabrena's speaking engagements or debates to experience firsthand that she is the candidate of substance. Vote Sabrena Turner.

MARGARET FROST

What about veterans?

A recent letter printed in your paper regarding columnist Mark Kennedy's political views absolutely astounded me. It amazes me that anyone who reads his articles could reach an opinion concerning Mr. Kennedy other than he is the proud father of two sons! The overwhelming vast majority of his column is nothing but a family travelogue.

I sent Mr. Kennedy some information along with a request that he write an article about the extreme amount of suicides among our troops. In a follow-up phone call to him I was promised he would get back to me before one week was out. That was months and many personal family articles ago.

While I am happy that Mr. Kennedy and his two sons are close and enjoy so many wonderful little adventures together, I am extremely sad for all the sons (and daughters) who won't have a dad to take them on trips.

My son was in the first grade when his father committed suicide following being injured in Vietnam. We both still grieve and shed tears all these many years later. No one cared then and don't appear to now.

MARILYN JOHNSON

Why a camera on Germantown?

I have paid my first ticket for speeding on Germantown Road where the newly installed traffic camera is. I don't object to paying the consequences for breaking the law. I do object to what clearly appears to be intended as a speed trap in a 30 mph zone.

There are other areas I presume are much more dangerous than Germantown Road where speeding seems rather routinely ignored.

I am sorry for the folks penalized by this arbitrary camera placement, those for whom a ticket may mean doing without some necessity (or perhaps risking not paying the ticket because of more pressing needs).

Personally, I simply will no longer use Germantown Road.

KATE STULCE, Ooltewah

Fix tax loopholes

The reason President Obama cannot get a bipartisan budget passed is because he wants to cut out tax loopholes the large companies deftly exploit.

The Republicans will not give in without cutting Medicare and Social Security programs, which he has offered to make adjustment to. But Republicans refuse to close any loopholes. For some reason, they call this raising taxes.

Recently some Tennessee legislators pointed out to Gov. Bill Haslam that the state of Tennessee has lost $212 million in taxes, and collections are way below estimates - companies in the past have proven deft at exploiting loopholes. When asked about this, Gov. Haslam said, "If this is the case, I think we'd have to correct that." I wonder how soon we will hear from Pilot (Haslam) oil company.

Lamar Alexander says, "The federal tax code is unfair." He did not say it is full of loopholes that big business uses to deny the government billions of tax dollars every year.

He did say it was because some states allow "people" who "pay taxes" to deduct their state taxes from their federal income taxes.

And people ask me why I am a Democrat.

DON MYERS, Hixson

Don't lose pipeline

Congress asked President Obama over three years ago to make a decision on the Keystone XL pipeline, which would transfer oil from the Alberta, Canada, oil fields to oil refineries near the Gulf of Mexico. As of this date, there is still no decision.

Canada has grown tired of waiting on a decision from Obama. Now, another option has emerged. Reuters is reporting that there now is a "Plan B" to cut the U.S. out of the picture. This 2,858-mile pipeline project called "Energy East" would link the Alberta province to an Atlantic port in the Canadian province of New Brunswick.

The Keystone XL pipeline would move the U.S. much closer to a national energy independence and produce thousands of well-paying jobs.

Apparently, politics trumps the nation's best interests. This administration has even gone in the other direction, making it more difficult to develop our own U.S. resources. It will be both a shame and disgrace if we lose the Keystone XL pipeline project.